West cautious on Nord Stream blasts, Germany confirms raiding suspect ship (updated)

Navios Maritime Holdings

08/03/2023 13:18

(Adds details on ship search, NATO chief)
    By Sabine Siebold and Riham Alkousaa
       STOCKHOLM/BERLIN, March 8 (Reuters) - 
    Western allies on Wednesday warned against reaching
premature conclusions on who was responsible for blowing up the
Nord Stream pipelines, with Germany suggesting the attack could
also have been a "false flag" operation to blame Ukraine. 
    A New York Times report, citing intelligence reviewed by
U.S. officials, said on Tuesday a pro-Ukrainian group may be
behind the blasts that became a flashpoint between the West and
Russia after last year's Russian invasion of Ukraine.
    The report, while not pointing to any official Ukrainian
involvement, comes at a time when Kyiv is urging its Western
allies to ramp up supplies of high-end weapons to drive back
Russian forces as the war enters its second year. 
   Investigations are ongoing as to what caused the Nord Stream
pipelines, supplying Russian energy to Europe, to rupture and
spew bubbles of natural gas into the Baltic Sea last September.
Western countries believe the explosions were deliberate but
have not concluded who was behind them. 
    Russia, which has previously blamed the West, seized on the
news on Wednesday to demand a transparent investigation in which
it also wants to participate. 
    A separate report by Germany's ARD broadcaster and Zeit
newspaper on Tuesday said a group of five men and one woman,
using forged passports, rented a yacht from a Poland-based
company owned by Ukrainian citizens, but the nationality of the
perpetrators was unclear.
    "We have to make a clear distinction whether it was a
Ukrainian group, whether it may have happened at Ukrainian
orders, or a pro-Ukrainian group (acting) without knowledge of
the government. But I am warning against jumping to
conclusions," Pistorius said on the sidelines of a summit in
Stockholm. 
    Pistorius said earlier the likelihood was "equally high"
that it could have been a "false flag operation staged to blame
Ukraine". 
    Germany meanwhile confirmed its investigators had raided a
ship in January that may have been used to transport the
explosives used to blow up the pipelines. But a statement by the
federal prosecutor said there was no reliable information yet on
motives or perpetrators, including on whether the attack was
state-sponsored.
        "What we do know is that there was an attack against the
North (sic) Stream pipelines, an act of sabotage. But we have
not been able to determine who was behind," NATO Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg said at the same summit in Stockholm.
  
        "There are ongoing national investigations and I think
it's right to wait until those are finalized before we say
anything more about who was behind."       
  
    
    UKRAINE PLAYS DOWN CONCERNS
    The New York Times said there was no evidence that Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy or other Ukrainian government
officials had played any role in the attacks.  
    Also in Stockholm, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii
Reznikov said the media reports were a "little bit strange" and
had "nothing to do" with the Ukrainian government.
    "It's like a compliment for our special forces," he joked.
"But this is not our activity."
    Reznikov said he was not worried about the prospect of the
media reports weakening support for Ukraine. Pistorius batted
away a similar question about Western support as "hypothetical".
    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested the media reports
were a coordinated bid to divert attention and questioned how 
U.S. officials could assume anything about the attacks without
an investigation. 
    "The very least that the Nord Stream shareholder countries
and the United Nations must demand is an urgent, transparent
investigation with the participation of everyone who can shed
light," Peskov said.
    The U.S. intelligence review suggested those who carried out
the attacks opposed Russian President Vladimir Putin "but does
not specify the members of the group, or who directed or paid
for the operation", the New York Times wrote.
    "Officials who have reviewed the intelligence said they
believed the saboteurs were most likely Ukrainian or Russian
nationals, or some combination of the two," according to the New
York Times report. 
    Investigators founds traces of explosives on the yacht,
which the group took from Rostock, Germany, on Sept. 6,
according to ARD and Zeit. They also reported that intelligence
indicated that a pro-Ukrainian group could be behind the attack,
but German authorities have not yet found any evidence.
    Reuters could not independently verify the information. 
    Russia last month gave the U.N. Security Council a draft
resolution which - if adopted - would ask U.N. Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres to set up an international investigation.
    

 (Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Andrew Gray, Lidia Kelly, Mark
Trevelyan, Riham Alkousaa, Kirsti Knolle; Writing by Matthias
Williams; Editing by Nick Macfie, Alexandra Hudson)
 ((matthias.williams@thomsonreuters.com;))